Ladys Mom

So glad you enjoyed your time on  the Splendor, even if the weather was not so cooperative.  Saki seems to be hit or miss.  When we were last on the Splendor in the Fall, 2021, they had an entire saki menu so we could try different brands.  Since then, it has been harder to find.  When we are on the inaugural Grandeur we hope for more saki to choose from.

Just to cover yourself I would make sure you had trip insurance that would pay for you to get to the ship one way or another if your flight was cancelled.

We also leave notes for the room steward as the cruise progresses, for any special requests.  It works really well.  Also they can provide you with both still and sparkling water in the large bottles, or you can ask for Pellegrino or Perrier if you prefer.

One reason why it is difficult to book more than one shore excursion a day is that many of the excursions run 5-7 hours.  Even if they start at 9 am it will be 1 pm before you are back at the ship.  Then you will want to grab lunch.  By this time it is 2 pm and if the ship is leaving around 6 pm there is not time for another even four hour excursion.  Would you rather have a bunch of 2-4 hour bus tours of a city, or an interesting walking tour inside of a number of sights?

If you have a bad knee taking an accessible cabin is fully within your rights.  I agree getting into those bathtubs is a game changer for anyone with any mobility problem.  We have declined two Mariner suites lately because they only had the combo.

I have never seen anyone turned away from a SSS event.  I just wouldn't wear my Silver level pin at and Gold and up event.  JMO.

When we first started sailing with Regent we just took their air offer to fly out of Atlanta, rather than Birmingham, and go from there.  Over time we found the two hour drive to Atlanta to be too much, so we switched to flying out of Birmingham.  This resulted in the air deviation charge.  We would investigate the best connections for us and offer that as an option to Regent.  After Covid, we had to do this all through our travel agent.  This new method is better because we can talk to Regent directly.  If someone doesn't want to pay the $75 or $175 extra on a multi 10's of thousands on a trip, then just let Regent pick your flights. It seems to me the $175 is a small  price to pay to get what you want.  

BuckGood you are absolutely right.

If you have a butler make use of him/her.  If you want an additional specialty restaurant reservation they can often get it for you.  If you want to have some friends for cocktails in your suite, even if it is not a named suite, they can arrange it for you.  If you need something special done with an item of clothing, like a stain or a small tear, point it out to them and it will be fixed.  While having more real estate is often the motivation for getting a penthouse, the butlers we have had made our cruise even more special.

Bob, I loved your pictures and your travelogue, especially of your Jewish tour of Montevideo.  We took a private tour of Jewish Rio de Janero that also was moving.  Hope to do more of South America one day.  We found that the Amazon cruise is not as good as one hopes it would be.  Maybe coming in from the Ecuador side would be more interesting.

Lobster bisque in Prime 7.  Always ask for extra pieces of lobster.  Rack of lamb in same venue.

Thanks for telling us the classes were open.  I booked a class for us on the TA Barcelona to Miami Dec. 2023.

Norma and Mitch

We didn't help any.  We got a Penthouse C, but with only a bathtub, so we declined the offer.

I agree that it is time for Regent to step up with a greater variety of tours.  That being said, in many large cities there are famous museums and/or sights that Regent seems to forget about.  Instead, people like me are going to the sight ourselves because the Regent ones don't interest us at all.  Some examples on our Grand Voyage this coming summer are the Tattoo and the Ship Britannia in Edinburgh, the Slavery Museum in Liverpool, and the Rykesmuseum in Amsterdam.  It seems like there have been fewer museum tours generally in the last few years.  Many people still enjoy museums if they have a knowledgable guide to explain things to them.

16 hours ago, Kwaj girl said:

 

Bvulgari is nice - only available in the higher suites, though

We got Bulgari when we were in Horizon Suite

No.  In the Penthouse suites they use Bulgari.

If you are using a TA check with them about your luggage tags.  They come with your documents from/through your TA.  If you have not received leather Platinum luggage tags have them check with Regent.  I am told you get a new set of tags when you reach a new level from Platinum on.

I guess the solution is don't buy anything while in Brazilian waters and Regent should avoid wine events at the same time.  Chile has a similar tax.  Silversea's answer on our Antarctic cruise was to close the boutiques in Chilean waters.

On 3/5/2023 at 9:18 AM, dawntrdr said:

If you qualify, Chase Sapphire Reserve will give you travel insurance for your trip so long as you pay any part of it with their card (you don't need to book through it).  They also give you lost luggage insurance and travel delay insurance and a lot of other features more than just cash back. As to cash back, I believe it gives you one point earned per dollar spent, and the annual fee is about $600, which they give you back $300 credit toward travel a year.  

 

Otherwise, I would use Fidelity Visa, which pays 2 points per dollar spent into your Fidelity account.

 

The thing about the world cruise is of course that the balance is so enormous, you have to pay it over time because your monthly credit limit won't cover it unless you spread it out.

We use the Chase Sapphire Reserve.  If you qualify the big benefit on a world cruise is that you get 3 points for every dollar spent.  In order to cover the final payment on our Regent world cruise, my husband starts paying it about a month before it is due.  He has our TA charge 25% of the total, which he then pays off as soon as it clears.  Then he emails our TA to do it again.  Repeat.  We end up with more than 600K points to use on United for our Tokyo-Sydney grand voyage in 2025.  It works, plus you have the additional 20K in trip insurance if you need it.

We were on Deck 9 for a thirty day cruise.  We loved our Horizon  Suite and our butler we never wanted to get off.  In my opinion, they are some of the best suites on the Mariner.

One Regent cruise we were on had a Rabbi, who was a passenger, conduct the services.  Otherwise, services are always conducted by passengers.  On a Mariner cruise March, 2022, it was Purim and a group of us participated in the entire Meggelah, provided by the ship (I believe), along lots of appropriate food and drinks.  I would expect the same for Rosh Hashanah.

1 hour ago, Kwaj girl said:

 

That's it....

Thanks for the information everyone.  If we get the suite level we want we will book.  But sorry not including Japan.

We love your posts.  We will be on your ship starting on 2/18.  We are so excited.  This will be our first cruise to Antarctica

You can give them instructions to wash and hang to dry with no ironing.  That is what I did with my swimsuits.  They came back clean, but not stretched.  

10 minutes ago, LewiLewi said:

On our last cruise on the Splendor we saw that there was a dedicated singles dining table hosted by staff every night. We saw them dining in all of the specialty restaurants as well as Compass Rose. Is this the norm on all Regent ships? It looked like they were all having a great time.

Although we are a couple, we have seen the group of singles eating together on all of Regent's ships.